SportsPulse: With the annual release of our college basketball coaches compensation database, Trysta Krick looked at some of the best perks in the contracts of the top coaches in the country.
USA TODAY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rick Pitino’s contract was founded on faith. It bound the University of Louisville to its men’s basketball coach well past his 73rd birthday and, when first signed, for more than $50 million.

There was no provision to protect the university in the event the two parties simply tired of each other. There were no clauses to limit payments if Pitino was let go and then latched on somewhere else. It was a prenup drafted as if divorce were a remote possibility; legally naïve and arguably negligent.

With Pitino pursuing a $38.7 million breach of contract lawsuit against his former employer, contesting its claim he was fired for “just cause” following a series of high-profile scandals, the university has adopted more precise and prudent language in its coaching contracts, beginning with the seven-year deal signed last March by men’s basketball coach Chris Mack.

While not as lucrative as Pitino’s, the agreement with Mack involves more than enough money to warrant due care. Mack’s starting annual compensation from the school is $4 million.

That puts him sixth in USA TODAY’s new survey of Division I men’s basketball coaches’ pay. Ahead of him are four coaches who have won a national championship – Kentucky’s John Calipari, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Kansas’ Bill Self – and Virginia’s Tony Bennett, whose $4.15 million for this season includes a $1 million, non-annual longevity payment.

But there’s another number that’s critical to any assessment of Mack’s contract.

At 12,157 words, it is more than twice the length of Pitino’s last deal and, says Laura Landenwich, an employment lawyer with a Louisville law degree, the two documents are “night and day in terms of how much control the university has over its employee.”

“I don’t know if this represents a disparity in bargaining power or something cozier than that,” Landenwich said. “But it’s a lot more detailed. ... From my perspective, that’s appropriate.”

Mack’s deal also was founded on faith – his.

'The negative stuff'

The Xavier University graduate would leave the familiarity and security of his alma mater for a school that already was serving NCAA probation and facing the prospect of additional repeat-offender penalties. The federal investigation that led to Pitino’s firing is ongoing, but the alleged bribery scheme behind the recruitment of McDonald’s All-American Brian Bowen hovers over the Louisville program.

Players recruited by Pitino were contemplating transfers. Recruiting had atrophied under interim coach David Padgett, who was in no position to make promises. Louisville could afford to double Mack’s base salary — based on numbers that schools report to the NCAA, Louisville had one of the nation’s top operating surpluses from men’s basketball in 2017-18 at more than $19.1 million — but it also needed to dispel some of his doubts.

“We didn’t have any idea what roster we were walking into,” said Jason Charney, Mack’s agent. “There was not one person signed. ... What happens if everybody leaves? It’s a disaster. It’s a 10-win team this year. It’s a 15-win team next year.”

Amid all of the uncertainty, though, Mack could see a destination job. Louisville offered top-notch facilities, championship tradition, devoted fans and the elite competition of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The city of Louisville also is the hometown of his wife, Christi, whose own basketball career includes two state championships at Holy Cross High School in nearby Shively.

“Loved the challenge of the ACC,” Chris Mack said via text message. “In my area of where I’ve recruited, so very familiar landscape. One of the top programs in America when all the negative stuff goes away — which it will. In it for the long haul. Best league, best players, best coaches. Want to win it all.”

Picked 11th in a preseason ACC poll, Mack’s Cardinals finished tied for sixth and will start the conference tournament Wednesday with a record of 19-12. If some of the enthusiasm engendered by a 7-1 start in ACC play has dissipated against a backloaded schedule, a 2019 recruiting class ranked as high as second nationally by ESPN has eased concerns about the long haul ahead.

Louisville athletics director Vince Tyra eased some of Mack’s NCAA concerns by agreeing to automatically extend his seven-year contract should infractions that predated his hiring result in a postseason ban or a reduction to fewer than 11 scholarships.

“This was offered up by me to mitigate any concerns from Coach Mack that a potential loss of a postseason would eliminate his ability to serve out the term with an opportunity for postseason incentives or other factors,” said Tyra, who took over in March 2018.

“It was a very amicable negotiation,” Charney said. “Vince made Chris understand where Louisville was and what the situation was moving forward and at the same time made Chris understand, ‘You’re the guy I really want. You’re the guy to take us back to the promised land.’ ”

Besides the hefty initial base salary, Louisville showed Mack how much it wanted him in other ways. The school paid more than $5.5 million to cover the buyout that Mack owed for terminating his employment with Xavier and the taxes that Mack might have owed on the buyout payment. Louisville also agreed to let Mack accelerate a $250,000 raise scheduled for 2021 by reaching the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 in any season before then. He can then accelerate another $250,000 raise scheduled for 2023 by reaching the Sweet 16 a second time before that date.

Even so, his deal involves less money than Pitino’s did and it is far less lopsided.

If Mack is fired without cause by Louisville, his compensation is capped at 36 months’ salary, an obligation that would be at least partially offset by future income from another job that Mack would be obligated to seek. The buyout total would start at an eight-figure amount, but, at present, 16 other public school men’s basketball coaches would be owed more, according to USA TODAY’s compensation survey.

Pitino’s contract contained no comparable buyout or offset clauses.

“This is a very sensible change,” said Len Simon, an adjunct professor of law at Duke University, the University of San Diego and the University of Southern California. “No mitigation provisions are the result of huge bargaining power by the coach or bad lawyers by the school. There is no reason that a coach (or other employee) who is fired in the middle of a five-year contract should earn two paychecks when he is rehired.”

More control for university

Pitino’s contract allowed him to have a separate personal services deal with Adidas, Louisville’s athletics outfitter, and that deal, worth at least $1 million a year to Pitino, cut heavily into the amount of cash Louisville received from the company. Mack cannot have such an arrangement.

Mack’s agreement gives final authority over the team’s schedule to the athletics director. Pitino’s contract gave it to Pitino.

Mack’s contract also requires more record keeping than did Pitino’s and allows for more audits. Mack must maintain lists of who gets his tickets and report revenue and expenses from his basketball camp. It limits the university’s liability in the event Mack is let go without cause and it restricts Mack’s ability to work elsewhere in the ACC. It also obliges him to refer to the university and its representatives “in a positive tone” and stipulates that he carry himself in “a dignified manner” and dress “in attire appropriate to each occasion.”

“Remember my wife joking with me, ‘Well, maybe they saw you out in those jeans you wear with the holes in the knees,’ ” Mack said. “She hates those jeans, tried to ban me from them.”

Tyra says Mack’s contract was not drafted “in reaction” to Pitino’s but rather reflects the university’s desire to identify and adopt “best practices” in college athletics.

Were previous contracts inadequate?

“I can’t speak to that,” Tyra said, “but am certain that changes were needed and have been implemented in all head coaching contracts that have been executed since I have been here. They would include the language of my own contract to be consistent with steps taken to improve our compliance and governance of the athletic department.”

Much of the new language is consistent with recent contracts negotiated by Power Five conference schools. Similar language can be found in the contract extension signed in October by Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz.

“I don’t care one iota about that type of language in a contract,” Mack said. “If that makes them feel better about their coach, all good with me.”

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No. 1: John Calipari, Kentucky: $9,276,643 – Calipari’s basic pay from the school increased from last season by a previously scheduled $500,000. In addition, he reported more than $1.3 million in athletically related outside income for 2017-18. His pay from Kentucky is set to go up by another $50,000 next season to $8 million, and it is scheduled to stay there through the end of his agreement March 30, 2024. However, he is contractually entitled to a pay review after the 2021-22 season. Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports

No. 2: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke: $7,048,206 – Because Duke is a private school, Krzyzewski’s total is the one reported on the school’s most recently available federal income tax return, which covers pay for the 2016 calendar year, including benefits and bonuses. Duke’s return stated that $1,246,799 of Krzyzewski’s total had been reported as deferred compensation on prior years’ returns, but it provided no further details about when that money was accrued. Rob Kinnan, USA TODAY Sports

No. 3: Tom Izzo, Michigan State: $4,157,562 – While it appears that Izzo took a pay cut from his $4,359,979 for the 2017-18 season, that is not the case. His contract guarantees at least modest annual raises from the university. The difference in his total for this season is that Michigan State had stopped collecting outside-income forms because NCAA rules had stopped requiring them – a situation that was reversed this past August, meaning schools again will have to start collecting these documents. Izzo generally had reported $100,000 to $200,000 from speaking engagements. Mike Carter, USA TODAY Sports

No. 4: Tony Bennett, Virginia: $4,150,000 – Bennett’s total includes a $1 million longevity payment that he will receive if is the head coach on March 15, 2019. His recurring annual pay from the school is contractually set to increase by 5% annually. His agreement includes two more longevity payments that are guaranteed if he’s fired without cause: $400,000 if he is head coach on March 15, 2021, and another $1 million on March 15, 2023. Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

No. 5: Bill Self, Kansas: $4,066,857 – Self’s compensation appears to have dropped by almost $900,000 from the amount he has received annually since the 2012-13 season. However, under a long-scheduled change in a retention-pay agreement, $876,000 is no longer vesting to him annually. Instead, he is set to be credited with $1.5 million each March 31 from 2019 through 2022. But the money does not vest or become payable unless he remains coach on March 31, 2022. Michael C. Johnson, USA TODAY Sports

No. 6: Chris Mack, Louisville: $4,007,494 – During the 2016 calendar year, Mack made just over $1.8 million, including bonuses, from Xavier, according to the private school’s most recently available tax records. In addition to his basic compensation for this season, Louisville paid more than $5.5 million in connection with the buyout that Mack owed Xavier. The buyout was $2,947,500, according to Louisville, which treated this as taxable income for Mack and also paid the taxes he would have owed on the buyout payment. Jamie Rhodes, USA TODAY Sports

No. 7: Roy Williams, North Carolina: $3,928,778 – In December 2018, when North Carolina announced a new eight-contract extension with Williams, it disclosed for the first time the amounts he is currently receiving from UNC’s multimedia and marketing rights partner Learfield ($1.397 million) and from Nike ($250,000). Previously, the only amounts publicly available were those he received from the school, which still refuses to disclose the amounts Williams may be receiving from operating a camp and/or other outside activities. Bob Donnan, USA TODAY Sports

No. 8: Jay Wright, Villanova: $3,878,768 -- Because Villanova is a private school, Wright’s total is the one reported on the school’s most recently available federal income tax return, which covers pay for the 2016 calendar year, including benefits and bonuses. That year, the Wildcats won the NCAA championship. His 2016 base pay of just over $3.5 million was $1 million more than the amount reported for him for 2015. Bill Streicher, USA TODAY Sports

No. 9: Bob Huggins, West Virginia: $3,865,000 – Huggins’ contract is set for him to coach through the 2021-22 season, then move into five years of paid emeritus status. His basic pay from the school is scheduled to increase by $100,000 each year. His deal also calls for WVU’s athletics department to make a $25,000 donation to the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment, in the coach’s honor, anytime WVU wins a regular season game against Kansas. Rob Ferguson, USA TODAY Sports

No. 10: John Beilein, Michigan: $3,800,000 – This past June, after leading the Wolverines to last season’s NCAA title game, Beilein received a new contract intended to keep him with Michigan for the remainder of his coaching career. It included a rolling five-year term and a $430,000 raise. It does not provide for any future pay increases. Mike Carter, USA TODAY Sports

No. 11: Larry Krystkowiak, Utah: $3,572,500 – In terms of recurring annual pay, Krystkowiak is the highest-paid men’s basketball coach at a Pac-12 Conference public school by almost $800,000 over Oregon’s Dana Altman. An amendment that the parties signed in November 2016, but was retroactive to July of that year, moved him above $3 million. Automatic increases to various elements of his pay have done the rest. Brad Rempel, USA TODAY Sports

No. 12: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State: $3,570,000 – Working under a seven-year, rolling contract, Marshall’s pay from the school for this season increased by a previously scheduled $500,000 to $3.5 million. He is not scheduled to receive any further increases until after 2021-22 season. If the school wants to fire him without cause, it would owe him a $15 million buyout. Peter Aiken, USA TODAY Sports

No. 13 (tie): Archie Miller, Indiana: $3,250,000 – Miller is completing the second year of a seven-year contract that is set to include a $50,000 increase every year. He can get a $125,000 bonus each year that Indiana’s schedule, when finalized, includes no more than one regular-season, non-conference opponent that has an RPI rating above 300, as reported in ESPN.com’s final ratings from the prior season. Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

No. 13 (tie): Rick Barnes, Tennessee: $3,250,000 – After the Volunteers failed to have a winning record in each of Barnes’ first two seasons in Knoxville, they went 26-9 last season and won a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season title. He was rewarded with a new six-year contract and a $1 million raise. The agreement also includes annual increases of $100,000. He is now making more in recurring annual pay than he was making during his final season at Texas, 2014-15. Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports

No. 15 (tie): Shaka Smart, Texas: $3,200,000 – Smart’s pay is scheduled to increase by $100,000 each year under a deal set to run through April 5, 2023. Since going 11-7 in Big 12 play in Smart’s first season in Austin (2015-16), the Longhorns are 20-34 in conference regular season games. Stephen Spillman, USA TODAY Sport

No. 15 (tie): Tom Crean, Georgia: $3,200,000 – Hired after Georgia dismissed Mark Fox last March, Crean is making over $1 million more annually than his predecessor was making. Crean’s compensation for this season is only slightly less than what he was making in his previous coaching job at Indiana, which fired him after the 2016-17 season.
No. 15 (tie): Lon Kruger, Oklahoma: $3,200,000 – Kruger’s contract was extended by one year, through June 30, 2022, last summer. But his basic annual financial terms were unchanged. He got the $100,000 annual pay increase called for under his previous deal, and he will continue getting $100,000 increases each year. Jeff Blake, USA TODAY Sports

No. 15 (tie): Lon Kruger, Oklahoma: $3,200,000 – Kruger’s contract was extended by one year, through June 30, 2022, last summer. But his basic annual financial terms were unchanged. He got the $100,000 annual pay increase called for under his previous deal, and he will continue getting $100,000 increases each year. Rob Ferguson, USA TODAY Sports

No. 18: Scott Drew, Baylor: $3,062,445 -- Because Baylor is a private school, Drew’s total is the one reported on the school’s most recently available federal income tax return, which covers pay for the 2016 calendar year, including benefits and bonuses. The return also said he received just over $11,000 in apparel from Nike. Jay Biggerstaff, USA TODAY Sports

No. 19: Avery Johnson, Alabama: $3,062,000 – A $100,000 increase in Johnson’s recurring annual pay that he received in June 2017 did not fully take effect until his 2018-19 contract year began April 16, 2018. In addition, this was the first time he could get a $150,000 contract-year completion payment that also was added to his deal in June 2017. He gets the payment if he is Alabama’s head coach as of June 1 of each contract year, so he was due $150,000 as of June 1, 2018. The net outcome is that Johnson is making about $162,500 more this season than he made last season. Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY Sports

No. 20: Chris Holtmann, Ohio State: $3,013,750 – Holtmann is in his second season with the Buckeyes, and this amount reflects his recurring annual pay from the school after his first-year compensation total also included what Ohio State termed “a one-time lump sum payment” of just over $2 million, plus another payment of nearly $1.9 million to cover the taxes owed on the lump sum. Those amounts likely were connected to the buyout he owed Butler. Tommy Gilligan, USA TODAY Sports